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1  ,  • 


The  Church 

and 

International  Peace 

.  i 

A  Series  of  Papers  by  the  Trustees  of 
THE  CHURCH  PEACE  UNION 

VIII 

The  Church  and  the  Ideal 

by 

Rt.  Rev.  William  Lawrence,  D.D. 


THE  CHURCH  PEACE  UNION 
70  Fifth  Avenue 

NEW  YORK 


The  Church  and  International  Peace 

A  uniform  series  of  papers  by  the  Trustees  of  The 
Church  Peace  Union,  treating  the  problems  of  war  and 
peace  from  the  point  of  view  of  religion,  and  especially 
emphasizing  the  message  the  Church  should  have  for  the 
world  in  this  time  of  war. 


ALREADY  PUBLISHED 

1.  The  Cause  of  the  War,  by  Rev.  Charles  E.  Jefferson,  D.D. 

2.  The  Midnight  Cry,  by  Rt.  Rev.  David  H.  Greer,  D.D. 

3.  The  Scourge  of  Militarism,  by  Rev.  Peter  Ainslie,  D.D. 

4.  Europe’s  War,  America’s  Warning,  by  Rev.  Charles  S.  Mac- 

farland,  Ph.D. 

5.  The  Way  to  Disarm,  by  Hamilton  Holt,  LL.D. 

6.  The  Church’s  Mission  as  to  War  and  Peace,  by  Junius  B. 

Remensnyder,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

7.  Might  or  Meekness,  by  Rev.  William  Pierson  Merrill,  D.D. 

8.  The  Church  and  the  Ideal,  by  Rt.  Rev.  William  Lawrence,  D.D. 


IN  PREPARATION 

1.  After  the  War — What?  by  Rev.  Francis  E.  Clark,  D.D. 

2.  The  United  Church  and  the  Terms  of  Peace,  by  Rev.  Frederick 

Lynch,  D.D. 

3.  Adequate  Armaments,  by  Prof.  William  I.  Hull. 


The  Church  and  the  Ideal 

By  Rt.  Rev.  William  Lawrence,  D.D. 

This  is  a  time  for  prayer  rather  than  for  preaching.  This 
is  not  the  time  for  national  or  personal  self-satisfaction  that 
we  being  at  peace  are  not  what  other  and  warring  nations 
and  peoples  are;  that  these  horrors  could  not  occur  in  this 
country  because  we  are  a  democracy,  our  people  are  governed 
by  their  representatives  and  not  by  an  autocrat  who  may  de¬ 
clare  war  in  spite  of  the  people,  or  because  we  do  not  believe 
in  takdng  possession  of  the  lands  of  other  peoples  against  their 
will.  Although  we  may  recall  with  gratitude  our  retirement 
from  Cuba,  we  may  also  recall  the  fact  that  much  of  the  land 
which  we  occupy  was  conquered  from  the  Indians  and  by 
their  extermination. 

Still  less  is  this  a  time  to  sit  in  judgment  upon  others 
and  declare  who  is  to  blame  for  this  awful  war.  The  evidence 
is  not  all  in  yet  and  probably  will  not  be  in  our  lifetime.  We 
are  wise  if  we  leave  these  judgments  with  God. 

The  fact  is  that  the  people  of  these  nations,  those  who 
are  fighting  and  suffering  and  dying,  those  who  are  shouting 
in  exultation  or  shrieking  in  pain  believe  that  they  are  fight¬ 
ing  for  the  defense  of  their  country,  their  homes  and  their 
posterity.  Patriotism,  the  motive  which  has  been  extolled 
for  centuries,  is  at  the  heart  of  their  action ;  it  is  that  which 
is  sending  each  day  thousands  against  the  steel  of  thousands. 

What  we  should  be  doing,  we  children  of  a  republic, 
bred  in  liberty,  if  we  were  in  close  contact  with  other  nations 
like  those  of  Europe,  if  we  felt  hemmed  in  and  smothered, 
if  we  thought  that  our  liberties  or  even  our  commerce  were 
at  stake,  if  we  were  divided  by  racial  stocks  and  the  mem¬ 
ories  of  religious  warfare,  if  parts  of  our  country  traded 
or  won  in  warfare  forward  and  back  were  to  be  torn  from 
us,  we  should  not  dare  to  say.  We  should  probably  be  doing 


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as  these  nations  are,  fighting  for  what  we  believe  our  rights, 
our  honor,  or  our  homes. 

Though  we  be  Americans  and  peace  loving,  liberty 
loving  people,  we  are  men  and  women  subject  to  the  pas¬ 
sions  and  greeds  of  others.  When  national  or  commercial 
or  political  interest  dominates  us,  we  are  not  altogether  free 
from  the  theory  that  might  makes  right. 

The  weakness,  the  temptations  and  sins  of  other  people 
are  ours  also.  We  for  instance  are  interested  today  that  the 
ethics  of  nations,  of  strong  and  great  bodies  of  people  should 
be  founded  upon  the  same  principles  as  the  ethics  of  indi¬ 
viduals.  The  plighted  word  must  be  kept ;  dealings  must  be 
mutually  honorable  even  though  every  condition  be  not  named 
in  the  bond ;  the  weakest  must  have  the  same  treatment  that  is 
yielded  to  the  strongest ;  to  make  treaties  or  bargains  with 
one  party  while  one  is  secretly  making  bargains  inconsistent 
with  these  with  others  is  wrong. 

We  have  been  quick  during  these  two  months  to  criticize 
or  condemn  these  lapses  of  national  honor,  honesty  or  justice. 
Let  us  look  to  ourselves.  Are  we  in  our  days  of  peace  entirely 
free  from  these  faults?  Are  we  clear  that  the  standards  of 
ethics  in  our  commercial,  political  or  national  life  are  the 
standards  of  personal  ethics? 

We  form  ourselves  into  corporations,  great,  strong 
bodies  of  men,  whether  capitalists  or  workingmen.  Surely 
we  are  not  stranger  to  the  thought  that  what  we  may  not 
do  as  individuals  we  may  do  as  a  corporate  body.  Might 
at  times  has  made  right.  The  strong  ride  over  the  weak. 
Secret  contracts  inconsistent  with  public  agreements  are  not 
unknown ;  the  armament  of  material  forces  is  strong  and 
breaks  down  the  defences  of  justice  and  truth  at  times.  Men 
are  in  peace  what  they  are  liable  to  be  in  war.  We  are  of  like 
passions  with  other  men ;  their  sins  are  our  sins,  wherefore 
let  us  “pray  to  this  end  that  God  forgive  us  our  sins,  our  igno¬ 
rance  of  His  holy  will,  our  wilfulness  and  many  errors,  and 
lead  us  in  the  paths  of  obedience  to  places  of  vision  and  to 
thoughts  and  counsels  that  purge  and  make  wise.”  Conscious 

4 


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of  our  faults,  humbled  by  our  sins,  and  brought  by  confes¬ 
sion  to  places  of  vision,  what  may  we  see  beyond?  The 
vista  of  the  future  is  full  of  mists  and  we  know  not  where 
the  nations  may  be  led  through  this  deep,  dark  valley  of 
slaughter,  death  and  sorrow. 

A  few  rays  of  light  pierce  the  mists  even  now.  We  look 
for  hopeful  thoughts.  We  have  the  right  to  gather  a  few 
of  them  today  that  they  may  cheer  us  as  we  go  forward.  Let 
me  name  over  some  of  these  messages  of  hope. 

1.  Has  it  not  been  borne  in  upon  the  people  of  the  world 
since  this  war  began  that  war,  victory  by  force,  seldom  settles 
anything  satisfactorily?  In  former  times  this  was  the  accepted 
way  for  the  settlement  of  tribal  or  national  diflerences,  today 
we  are  beginning  to  rebel  against  it.  Whichever  side  by 
victory  gains  land  or  harbor  or  commerce  or  indemnity  has 
made  for  itself  an  enemy  who  will  bide  his  time  and  in  some 
hour  of  national  stress  smite  and  take  vengeance. 

There  has  been  a  world-wide  movement  in  these  last  years 
which  calls  upon  nations  to  respect  the  traditions  and  rights 
of  people,  even  the  weakest  and  lowliest.  Men  the  world 
over,  when  they  think,  are  becoming  more  and  more  con¬ 
vinced  that  war  is  not  only  brutal  and  wicked  but  that  it  is 
stupid.  Intelligent  people  may  condone  wickedness,  but  they 
will  condemn  and  stop  at  stupidity. 

2.  Are  we  not  becoming  convinced  that  the  increase 
of  great  armaments,  which  in  peace  has  been  bleeding  the 
nations  in  money  and  life,  is  instead  of  being  a  bulwark  of 
peace,  a  temptation  for  war? 

When  citizens  carry  pistols  and  dirks  for  self-defense, 
they  are  liable  in  a  time  of  fright  to  draw  and  use  them. 
They  do  not  mean  to  be  aggressors;  they  are  in  a  moment  of 
panic  simply  defending  themselves. 

Just  such  a  panic  seems  to  have  swept  over  these  nations; 
the  common  interests  of  religion,  literature,  blood  and  friend¬ 
ship  counted  for  naught;  life  was  in  danger;  they  must  strike 
and  strike  quickly,  or  the  other  might  kill  first.  And  so  that 
noble  sentiment  of  patriotism  was  kindled  in  a  moment,  they 


5 


and  their  children  were  threatened ;  stand  and  fight  the  ag¬ 
gressor. 

We  are  thinking  what  a  few  days  of  quiet  reasoning 
might  have  done  if  the  cannons  had  not  been  already  loaded 
and  the  bayonets  fixed,  and  we  believe  that  the  whole  world 
will  think  harder  than  ever  upon  this  point.  Settlements 
through  reason  and  discussion,  through  an  appeal  to  public 
opinion  and  men’s  sense  of  justice  gain  the  respect  of  men’*? 
judgments  and  have  as  their  basis  confidence  in  their  fellows, 
their  desire  to  do  the  right  thing. 

To  be  sure,  there  rises  before  us  the  vital  question  as 
to  who  is  to  enforce  these  judgments  and  conclusions.  In  the 
last  resort  we  have  to  fall  back  even  in  our  personal  differ¬ 
ences  and  the  decisions  of  the  courts  upon  the  police  and 
the  jail.  Is  such  a  resort  possible  in  international  disputes, 
even  when  national  honor  is  at  stake? 

The  history  of  the  defense  of  personal  honor  through 
public  opinion  and  not  through  the  duel  is  full  of  hope,  but 
it  does  not  altogether  meet  the  questions  of  national  honor. 
We  are  confident,  however,  that  God  will  lead  us  in  paths  of 
obedience  to  places  of  visions  and  to  “thoughts  and  counsels 
that  purge  and  make  wise.” 

The  history  of  this  movement  of  appeal  to  public  opinion 
during  our  generation  is  full  of  hope.  Disappointments  there 
have  been,  many  and  great.  The  awful  disappointment  of 
this  awful  war  almost  overwhelms  us. 

Let  our  thoughts  dwell  on  the  facts  of  the  Hague  Con¬ 
ferences  and  the  Hague  Tribunal;  upon  treaty  after  treaty 
looking  to  mutual  confidence,  justice  and  respect  for  public 
opinion  made  and  kept. 

Let  us  appreciate  more  fully  the  fact  that  the  dream  of 
a  World’s  Peace  has  passed  beyond  the  imaginings  of  senti¬ 
mentalists  and  has  entered  into  and  taken  possession  of  the 
thoughts  of  great  statesmen  as  a  goal  to  be  worked  for. 

3.  Again,  the  increasing  sensitiveness  of  people  through¬ 
out  the  world  to  physical  pain  and  suffering,  their  horror  at 
cruelty,  the  aversion  to  slaughter  and  the  shambles  of  death 


5 


are  causing  men  and  women  and  children  to  hate  war,  to 
turn  their  faces  from  it.  In  the  excitement  of  battle,  in  the 
thrills  of  patriotism  these  sentiments  are  forgotten,  but  they 
are  gaining  control  over  people’s  thoughts  and  action. 

)  May  we  not  go  further?  May  not  the  day  be  approaching 
faster  than  we  think  when  a  false  form  of  patriotism,  my 
country  right  or  wrong,  will  be  frowned  upon  by  the  public 
opinion  of  the  world?  So  long  as  national  might  makes  right, 
this  false  patriotism  will  endure. 

Higher  conceptions  of  the  rights  of  others,  the  well  being 
of  all  nations,  are  bound  to  temper  patriotism  and  make  it  more 
reasonable,  more  just  and  humane.  For  in  the  increasing  con¬ 
sciousness  of  the  sacredness  of  the  individual  which  Christ 
teaches  and  which  is  at  the  basis  of  democracy,  it  is  discovered 
that  the  burdens,  the  sufferings  and  the  costs  of  war  fall  most 
heavily,  not  upon  the  leaders,  not  upon  the  rich,  not  even  upon 
the  brave  men  who  lie  wounded  and  dead  in  the  trenches,  but 
upon  the  women  and  children,  upon  the  great  body  of  the 
common  people.  With  the  people  in  power,  the  governors  of 
themselves,  nations  will  think  long  and  move  slowly  before 
they  involve  themselves  in  wars  for  which  they  are  bound  to 
be  the  heaviest  sufferers. 

These  and  many  other  thoughts  which  come  to  mind  are 
full  of  hope.  Live  in  them,  dwell  in  them,  press  them  upon 
your  own  imaginations  and  tell  them  to  others.  Recognize 
the  difficulties,  accept  the  objections,  but  do  not  yield  to  them. 
The  future  is  full  of  problems  and  the  cause  of  Peace  is 
harrassed  by  hostile  forces.  The  greatest  and  noblest  states¬ 
men  know  not  which  way  to  lead  or  where  the  path  will  open. 
Be  confident  that  God  will  open  a  path,  and  watch  for  it. 

Let  us  take  an  even  higher  place  of  vision.  The  glory 
of  the  Christian  Church  is  highest  when  she  stands  for  ideals. 
The  heralds  of  the  Son  of  God  sang,  “Glory  to  God  in  the 
highest  and  on  earth  peace,  good  will  towards  man.”  At  that 
moment  history  tells  us  that  all  nations  were  at  peace. 

Throughout  these  twenty  centuries,  through  all  the  wars 
of  conquest  and  hate,  that  heavenly  song  has  rung  out  as  the 


7 


hope  of  mankind.  God  has  in  His  mind,  we  believe,  the 
consummation  of  a  world-wide  peace.  When  or  where  we 
know  not  yet.  The  cause  of  truth  and  justice  may  compel  its 
servants  to  obey  the  word  of  their  Master,  “I  come  not  to 
send  peace  but  a  sword.”  Wars  for  the  right  are  not  over 
yet.  Wars  of  greed,  race  hatred  and  false  patriotism  may 
be  waged  in  future  again  and  again.  But  God’s  kingdom  is 
coming,  His  Kingdom  of  Peace.  In  spite  of  disheartening 
checks,  of  cynicism  and  opposition,  the  Christian’s  privilege 
is  to  stand  for  the  ideal  and  to  work  for  it.  Work  for  it  in 
the  way  that  the  heavenly  choir  points  out,  through  good  will. 
Let  us  respect  the  peoples  of  other  races,  enter  with  sympathy 
into  their  hopes ;  let  us  try  to  discover  the  better  and  not  the 
worse  in  men ;  let  us  love  our  neighbors  as  ourselves.  And 
we  shall  do  our  part  in  preparing  the  world  for  that  lasting 
peace  which  is  the  crowning  virtue  and  happiness  of  all 
people. 

God  has  His  plan  for  peace.  His  path  towards  interna¬ 
tional  good  will.  Let  us  pray  and  pray  earnestly  that  He  will 
show  us  that  path  that  we  may  walk  in  it, 


The  Church  Peace  Union 

{Founded  by  Andrew  Carnegie) 

TRUSTEES 

Rev.  Peter  Ainslie,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  Baltimore,  Md. 

Rev.  Arthur  Judson  Brown,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  New  York. 

Rev.  Francis  E.  Clark,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  Boston,  Mass. 
President  W.  H.  P.  Faunce,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  Providence,  R.  I. 
His  Eminence,  James  Cardinal  Gibbons,  Baltimore,  Md. 

Rt.  Rev.  David  H.  Greer,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  New  York. 

Rev.  Frank  O.  Hall,  D.D.,  New  York. 

Bishop  E.  R.  Hendrix,  D.D.,  Kansas  City,  Mo. 

Rabbi  Emil  G.  Hirsch,  LL.D.,  Chicago,  Ill. 

Hamilton  Holt,  LL.D.,  New  York. 

Professor  William  I.  Hull,  Ph.D.,  Swarthmore,  Pa. 

Rev.  Charles  E.  Jefferson,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  New  York. 

Rev.  Jenkin  Lloyd  Jones,  LL.D.,  Chicago,  Ill. 

Rt.  Rev.  William  Lawrence,  D.D.,  Boston,  Mass 
Rev.  Frederick  Lynch,  D.D.,  New  York. 

Rev.  Charles  S.  Macfarland,  Ph.D.,  Nev/  York. 

Marcus  M.  Marks,  New  York. 

Dean  Shailer  Mathews,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  Chicago,  Ill. 

Edwin  D.  Mead,  M.A.,  Boston,  Mass. 

Rev.  William  Pierson  Merrill,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  New  York. 
John  R.  Mott,  LL.D.,  New  York. 

George  A.  Plimpton,  LL.D.,  New  York. 

Rev.  Junius  B.  Remensnyder,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  New  York. 
Judge  Henry  Wade  Rogers,  LL.D.,  New  York. 

Robert  E.  Speer,  D.D.,  New  York. 

Francis  Lynde  Stetson,  New  York. 

James  J.  Walsh,  M.D.,  New  York. 

Bishop  Luther  B.  Wilson,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  New  York. 


